SHIELD seeks babysitter
by Enchanting Elf
Summary: Tony has never had the best relationship with SHIELD, but for some reason, they have decided to call in a favor and make Iron Man look after some INTERESTING... well, I guess they are  technically , Children. Babysitting duty? NO THANKS!
1. NOT a BABYsitter

"You want me to do what!" Iron Man exclaimed.

"I want you to take in a group of children," the director of shield replied calmly. "You WILL take them in, because they cannot be investigated by DHS again."

"Why was DHS looking for them in the first place?" Iron man asked, a bit calmer than before.

"The eldest two of the group are physically eighteen, but the girl only looks 16, and it looks suspicious for eight children, only one of which looks eighteen, to be living with no parent supervision."

"Then why not put them up for adoption? With NORMAL people?"

"They aren't NORMAL children, Iron Man; they were genetically modified at a young age, and are much older than they appear. They have aided the American government many times in its history, and we cannot afford to lose them." Nick Fury, the one-eyed director of shield, glared at the billionaire. "You will do this Tony, those kids aren't going to cause you any trouble, if anything they could make life easier for you and your Avengers, they have a lot of experience."

"Fury, they're KIDS for God sake! How much experience could they have?"

"Tony, I already told you, they are not as young as they physically appear. Don't underestimate what they are capable of. Now, let's go meet them, shall we?" Nick Fury led the way out of the conference room and down to one of the many SHIELD training rooms. Tony followed apprehensively, suspecting a very mediocre demonstration of power by a group of bratty kids.

On the observation deck, Fury activated the numerous monitors around the room, and flipped a switch that altered the window sized computer monitor on the largest wall so that it was translucent and looked in on the room in which eight children of various ages were training.

The youngest looking children, two little girls no older than 8, were in a section of an obstacle course. Curiously, they were not trying to get through the section to reach the finish line. Instead, they were constantly dodging the swinging pendulums, random objects that appeared out of the floor, and frequent light beams. Tony was riveted to the scene, and had to force himself not to stare openmouthed at the pair as they twisted, turned, flipped, and practically danced their way through every obstacle that appeared. Fury glanced at Tony's expression, and held back a slight smile, "Those are the twins, the youngest ones anyway. They are able to see glimpses of the future, which is why they are currently focusing on that particular section of the obstacle course."

"How old are they exactly?" Tony asked, awe just barely hidden beneath his normally cool businessman exterior.

"The girls are, as far as we can tell anyway, seven years old. The one with the purple ribbon in her hair is Lila, Lily is wearing the white ribbon."

Tony wondered why Fury had added, 'as far as we know' to his explanation of the girls age. He wanted to ask, but Fury was already focusing the cameras on a different corner of the training room. The window-like computer screen zoomed in on an area that was set up like an arena half the size of a football field. Four children were in the arena, and it appeared as if they were acting in groups of two in order to reach some goal. Tony was about to ask what they were doing when Fury answered his unspoken question,

"The point of the exercise is to land three terminal hits on both members of the opposite team. The pair wearing green is Gadget and Raya; the other two are Warp and Gizmo. Gadget and Gizmo are the younger looking ones, and are the other set of twins. They are both Techno-paths, and their IQs are off the charts; and before you ask, they're physically 12. Raya is 15; she has the ability to manipulate light and water and she has the ability to heal others. Warp is also 15, he is a speedster, when he wants to be, but he also has the ability to create portals through time and space." Fury paused for a moment, allowing Tony to take in the scene as the pairs dueled.

It was clear that all four were skilled in combat, even though Tony only saw their powers being used once or twice, which surprised him so much that he commented on it to Fury. "Why don't they use their powers? It is a rule or something?"

"Hardly," Fury scoffed, "They prefer to fight without their powers most of the time. They say it makes them work harder, and that it makes it more difficult for them to be caught unaware."

Tony raised an eyebrow in surprise; it was quickly becoming obvious that Fury was not lying when he said that these kids were at the very least, wiser than the average kid, if not older than they looked.

Fury refocused the cameras one last time, zooming in on a pair of teenagers sparing in a miniature arena. The floor of the arena appeared to be sand, except for a red circle the size of a basketball hoop directly in the middle that had a digital clock counting the seconds. Tony wondered about this, but knew that either Fury would tell him or something would happen to make its purpose apparent. A moment later the circle changed color, shifting into a bright green. Less than a second later, the dueling pair leapt away from each other. One of them, a girl dressed in a green training suit, appeared to be dancing. At first, nothing seemed to come of it, but then the vines began to appear, shooting up out of the sand and towards her opponent; who, while she had been calling to the vines, had spread his wings (yes WINGS), strapped on a pair of what appeared to be wristbands, and shot up into the air. The vines climbed after him, and Tony wondered how far they could grow before reaching their limit. Sooner than he thought, the vines slowed their growth, and he looked back to the arena to find that the girl was now racing up the vines to reach her opponent, who at the moment was still dodging her vines. She climbed to a point directly behind her opponent, and Tony thought he would surely lose now; but when she leapt from her vine he dodged effortlessly out of her way almost as if he had touched her mind. Undaunted, the girl used her momentum to perform a graceful somersault in midair and landed lightly on one of the many ivy leaves. Tony glanced back down at the clock in the center of the arena, it was still green; though the moment it hit the one minute marker it changed back to red. The pair quickly returned to the ground, the girl racing down her vines and the boy diving headfirst to the ground, pulling up 6 feet above the arena before tucking in his wings again. The vines twisted back into the earth the moment the girl touched the earth, and without pausing to take a breath the pair began to circle one another once more. The pair used combinations of various fighting styles, and they flowed effortlessly through the different stances. Never once was either combatant hit by their opponent, for they always seemed to know exactly where the next blow would land. Curiously, the 'battle' looked more like a choreographed dance than anything else. The clock in the center of the arena flashed, 10 seconds remaining_. 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, END._ The clock flashed blue, and two teens stepped away from each other and bowed.

Fury glanced at Iron Man, who was still staring intently at the impressive pair. "The girl is called Rose, she may look younger, but she is physically 18. The boy is Eagle, for obvious reasons, and is also 18." He turned and walked towards Tony, "So, I'm assuming that the look of astonishment on your face means you won't mind having them stay with you?" He said, stating it more as a fact rather than as a question.

"I never had a choice anyway," Tony answered with a glare, "But I can see that at the very least they can handle themselves well. When are they moving in?"

"Oh, they are probably ready to go right now, seeing as how the Tiny Twins told them this morning."

Tony gave him a look, "The Tiny Twins?"

Fury rolled his eyes, "Yeah, Lily and Lila. It's the easiest way to distinguish between Gadget and Gizmo vs. Lily and Lila."

Tony sighed; this was going to be interesting.

**Now, for the readers out there (if you exist), this is merely a drabble that I couldn't resist writing. It features eight of my favorite OCs that I use in my original stories, as well as the fanfiction pieces that are currently undergoing some work. I would love reviews, but please don't focus too much on the Iron Man/SHIELD aspect. I haven't watched/read anything with Iron Man in it for a while, so I am not as familiar with the quirks. I did try to capture the characters as much as possible, but feel free to give me a few pointers. I also realize that the ending is abrupt, but I never meant for this to be anything more than a One-shot. If someone out there wants me to go on, they are going to need to give me some plot ideas! **

**PS: I fixed a few of the minor things that I noticed. Let me know if you see something else. **

**Reviews Please! (: **

** -Enchanting Elf**


	2. Duron AKA: Eagle

Freedom; the dictionary defines it as the power to determine action without restraint. Simple enough, yet somehow, not everyone is lucky enough to have it. Even now, in the twenty first century, there are so many people in this world that lack the freedom of choice. The ability to choose where to live, who to spend time with, and when to do something just for fun is something that most people take for granted: but for people like myself, freedom is something that you long for, and something that you cherish when you are fortunate enough to have just a few moments. I was born free, to a family that cared for me. I spent only a few years of my life enjoying that freedom before I had it stolen from me.

I told you just a moment ago how the dictionary defines freedom, but I think there is more to it than that. In my mind, there are three types of freedom, Absolute, Realistic, and Minor. Absolute is fairly self-explanatory, as it is when one is able to do whatever they wish whenever they wish it; much like a spoiled child is in a wealthy and/or noble family. Realistic freedom is when one is permitted to choose for themselves the majority of the time but is still required to follow a set of rules set by society or by family. Minor freedom is when one is allowed to make very few decisions for themselves but are still permitted the basic necessities; another words, they aren't considered the property of another, but are still low in the food chain of society.

You might notice that the definitions I gave don't really cover those like me, those without freedom at all. Most of the world would call people without freedom slaves, yet somehow I don't really feel that the term applies to me. I am, well, I don't really know what to call it. What I am and what I am told that I am are two entirely different things. I am told that I am an experiment, nothing more than a lab rat. Sometimes, I am called trash, a freak, or a mutant. What I am, well, I don't really like to dwell on it. I suppose I am a mutant, though not really of the sort that they are thinking of. When they call me a mutant, they are thinking of those with powers that are not of human origin, and that much I would agree with. Sadly, their definition again clashes with my own. They tell me that mutants are born with a gene that makes them what they are, but I wasn't born entirely the way I am today. I was made this way. I was born a fairly normal human child, to a relatively normal family. I had two younger siblings, twins. My sister was the elder of the twins, Rebecca; and my brother, who always made sure everyone knew he was only six minutes younger, was called Rowland. The twins were 6 years younger than me, Duron. I know that's an odd name, but I can't really help what my parents chose to call me. In their defense, they really didn't do a bad job, seeing as how years later I came across the meaning of the name. Duron, my birth name, means bird or freedom. Personally, I think that my parents must have known something was up, because my name is too coincidental for me to fully accept as such. But I'm getting a little sidetracked here, so let's get back to the reason why I am here.

My siblings and I lived a fairly normal life, we went to school, did our chores, and played in the garden. As the eldest, more difficult chores were assigned to me. This would have bothered me more had I not discovered that if I promised my siblings a game or two, they would always lend a helping hand.

Things started to go downhill when I turned eleven, my mother came down with pneumonia, and in those days there wasn't a reliable treatment let alone a cure. Father did everything he could, from calling in the most learned doctors he could afford to calling in the local priest to pray over her frail body. All of it was in vain, for, a week before my twelfth birthday, mother passed away. Looking back on that time, I desperately wish that I had learned about my talent soon enough to save her, because if I had, so much pain and suffering might have been avoided.

Mother's passing was hard on father, and for weeks after refused to come out of the room where she spent her last days in this world. Eventually, Grandmother decided that although grieving was necessary, enough was enough and it was time to return to the human world. (This of course, is just a very long winded way to say she came to knock some sense into him).

I don't really know what happened in that room, but I know that she entered with a VERY determined look on her face and only a few minutes after her seemingly dramatic entrance she left the room with father following close behind with a rather sheepish look on his face. Father was seen more often after that, returning to a lifelike state. He would often be seen late at night in his study, poring over an account book that one of his associates had given him to review. At least, that was what we had assumed he was doing. We later discovered that he was simply reading letters from various lady friends, and writing back of course. I suppose we should have suspected something when he started going on extended "business trips," but we were young and it hadn't crossed out minds that he would seek out a new wife so soon after our mother's death. Not five months had passed before father came home one day with a young woman on his arm and a little girl trailing wide-eyed behind him. Father had remarried, to a recent widow who had been presented with very few options at the time of her husband's death; allow a relative to take her under their wing and coddle her, forever enduring their sorrowful glances, or remarry. She, with her six year old little girl, chose marriage; and so Rebecca, Rowland and I gained a sibling, as well as a new mother.

You are likely wondering why I have deemed it necessary to ramble on about my past, and the truth is; I don't really have a great reason. The best way to justify this extended explanation is that it is probably the easiest way to allow you to understand my semi-unique situation. You see, if you were paying attention, I mentioned earlier how people like me have no freedom at all. That, at the moment anyway, is not entirely true. My family and I are currently staying on a SHIELD airship. By family, I do not mean really mean Rebecca, Rowland, Step-Mother, and Father. I mean my adopted family, Rose, Gadget, Gizmo, Warp, Lily and Lila. (Raya is the only one who is actually related to me, but I'll get into that another time). Under normal circumstances, we would have never agreed to stay with government officials, but they did get us out of a tight spot and they didn't really give us much of a choice after DHS investigated us for the third time. I know that sounds weird, but we relocated after they tried to split us up the first two times. We would have moved again, but Fury didn't want us to "drop off the map" again. I think he got tired of having his agents track us down. Sure, we could have avoided them if we really wanted to (Warp can open portals to other worlds, it really wouldn't have been that hard), but Rose and I agreed that for the present time, it was best to just try and blend in where we were.

Now, it seems that Fury has gotten tired of 'babysitting duty,' as he calls it. He, like most adults, feels the urge to keep a close eye on children, or in this case, people who look like children. So he has decided to 'ask' Iron Man, AKA Tony Stark, to take us in. Fury hasn't actually told us yet, but Lila and Lily glimpsed the eight of us exploring the Avengers mansion sometime in the near future. We packed our things this morning, since the girls were at least certain that we would be leaving later today.

We didn't want to sit around and wait for Fury to hand us over to our new 'guardian,' so we headed to the training room and split up. Rosie and I headed to the secondary arena; the first having already been claimed by G2, Warp, and Raya. (G2 is our nickname for Gadget and Gizmo, the 'twelve-year old' twins.) The arena was about half the size of a football field, (except it's circular in shape) and its ceiling was open to the training room. This was REALLY convenient for me, because the training room ceiling was about 25 feet, and the more room to… well... we'll get to that in a minute.

Rose went to the far side of the arena and began to go through her warm up routine, which consisted of a lot of stretches. I followed her lead, knowing full well the consequences of sparing without warming up. Halfway through my warm-up, I shrugged off my lightweight white jacket and tossed it onto a yoga mat that never seemed to actually be used. I rolled my shoulders and tilted my head from side to side to stretch my neck, then looked across the arena to Rose, who, at the same moment, finished her warm-ups and looked into my eyes. We nodded to each other, not needing to vocalize the rules or goals of the training exercise that we had done numerous times, and then walked to the center of the arena where a digital clock the size of a basketball hoop was. Our eyes meet, and as one we each moved into a fighting stance, one foot on the clock. The clock lit up to green, then started its five minute countdown.

**A/N: Don't worry! I won't leave the next chapter for very long! I already know what it is going to be about, mostly, so it shouldn't take too long to put it together. I was going to just put it all in one chapter, but I wanted to add something for Legion 22 and TransformersXmenTmnt97, who were my only reviewers and wanted to see more. **** Thanks so much you two for reviewing! **

**P.S. I know this chapter lacks a little in the Avengers side of things, but Eagle and the gang will encounter Tony very soon, then the other Avengers will follow! I promise. **

**Reviews Please!**

** -Enchanting Elf**


	3. Battle Dance

**I recently realized that I haven't been including a disclaimer (even though this is fanfiction and no one who actually OWNED this would be on here), so no, I don't own the Avengers, Tony/Iron Man, SHIELD, or Nick Fury. I do however own Rose, Eagle, and the rest of my OCs. **

Last time…

_We nodded to each other, not needing to vocalize the rules or goals of the training exercise that we had done numerous times, and then walked to the center of the arena where a digital clock the size of a basketball hoop was. Our eyes meet, and as one we each moved into a fighting stance, one foot on the clock. The clock lit up to green, then started its five minute countdown. _

Instantly I sensed Rose pulling up a mental shield, drawing a veil over her otherwise clear as day thoughts. I threw my own mental shield up, further obscuring her thoughts from my mind. Then, only three seconds into the match, we moved to attack each other in the same moment.

Despite the two sided mental wall that appeared to be solid, I was still fairly certain I could see what her next moves would be. I focused on the wall for a moment and patched the holes that appeared to have allowed me to see her thoughts, and then focused on dodging her attacks. Seeing an opening, I snapped out a fist and put her on the defensive. Despite my well timed and well placed shot, she knew me as well as I knew her and was able to dodge effortlessly out of the way.

The clock began flashing, still green, as it hit the three minute marker. Rose shifted from her fighting stance to the first steps in her 'plant dance' as the Tiny Twins called it. While the vines began to answer her call, I stretched out my wings before strapping on a pair of wristbands that were designed to monitor my flight speed and heart rate, and then launched myself into the air. Rose's vines followed my ascent quickly, and I could sense Rose racing up the thick vines to reach a point near me. While she continued to close the distance between us, the first of her vines had reached me, and I had to concentrate on dodging them unless I wanted to end up tangled in them and forfeiting the match. I felt Rose's mental wall flex in my mind, and I knew that it wouldn't be long before we would have trouble maintaining the blockade. I clearly saw her decision to jump from an ivy leaf to tackle me, so dodging was not a problem. I knew that she had sensed that I had seen her decision the moment she leapt from her perch, and, rather than let one of her vines catch her, she executed an impressive somersault and landed lightly on one the many ivy leaves. I started to fly towards her in order to engage in close combat, but before I could reach her the clock stopped flashing and shifted to red. I dived to the ground as Rose raced down her vines. She encouraged them to follow her back down as she did so, and I felt the walls between us slip more as I pulled up six feet or so off the ground and drew in my wings. I tried to reinforce the wall again, and I could sense Rose doing the same even as she called the last of the vines back and landed on the sand. Even though we knew the wall would collapse any moment if we didn't stop, we knew the rules, and without pausing we took up our fighting stances and started to circle each other. This time, I threw the first swing, closely followed by a second. She ducked and then tried to sweep me off my feet with her legs, the wall disappeared, and I easily jumped over her and twisted in the air to fall into a back handspring and land lightly on my feet. The moves we both would make were clear in our minds, and although we continued to fight, we knew that at this point neither of us would be able to claim victory unless some outside force intervened. Out of the corner of my eye I glimpsed the clock start to flash, and as it flashed to blue Rose and I stepped away from each other and bowed. Rose looked into my eyes and smiled, "We almost made it to the end that time."

I smiled back at her and said, "Yeah, but the wall had holes in it long before it actually collapsed."

She rolled her eyes, "I know, I know. But at least we were able to mostly block each other, in the past we couldn't have even done that."

"Yes, it's a definite improvement for sure." We both started a short cool down session, mentally raising the wall between us for a few more moments.

Now, you are probably wondering what this mental wall is all about, so I suppose I should explain. That of course, would take forever, more time than I have at the moment, so the short answer will have to do for now. After Rose and I were genetically altered, we were forced to spend a lot of time together. By forced, I mean we were literally put in the same cages. We would talk as often as we could, mostly just because it was such a great feeling being able to speak to someone who has been through as much crap as you have. We started forming a bond of sorts, along the lines of close friends. When the scientists came to experiment on us we would fight to stay together, because we both hated being alone. The scientists were irked at our behavior sometimes, but then one of the high ups came and said something to them. I'm not sure what was said exactly, but I know that he was the reason why a few weeks later, Rose and I were both strapped to metal examination tables side by side, hand in hand. The scientists had simultaneously injected something into our joined arms, then they stepped back and a machine was switched on.

The electricity surged through the wires from the machine to the cuffs on wrists and ankles, giving us both an excruciatingly painful shock. At that point in time, we weren't really thinking about what this particular experiment was going to do to us; we were only focusing on the pain, and it wasn't long before we realized though that we weren't just feeling our own pain, we were feeling each other's.

It was a curious sensation to be feeling the pain of someone else in addition to your own, because it meant that we were feeling twice the amount of electricity and thus twice the amount of pain. If we had been more aware, we might also have consciously recognized the fact that we were also hearing echoes of each other's thoughts, but the pain prevented us from reaching that realization. This _wonderful _(sense the sarcasm) experience resulted in the mental connection that Rose and I currently share. Unfortunately, it has always been difficult to completely block off our minds from each other, which is why we devised the wall. With the wall in place, we can block out each other's thoughts and mental presence for a short while. If we build a complete wall, on without any cracks, holes, or openings of any sort, then the pressure rapidly builds up on either side and destroys it. Instead, we figured out how to make a 'crossing' of sorts in our minds. This is basically like a mental archway in the center of the wall. With it in place we are able to choose what thoughts are shared with the other, which makes things less confusing for us and for those around us. I'll come back to this later, since I'm sure you can still see a few holes in my logic, but that should tide you over for a little while.

Rose and I finished our cool down routines and did a quick clean up in the arena (sparring, especially with Rose's vines, tends to leave a mess). The Tiny Twins had finished up as well, and were walking towards the main arena to watch the other's finish their sparring. Rose and I had already started in that direction, and we reached the wall just before they did. Rose watched the four in the arena, and I could sense her pride and satisfaction as she noted how much they had improved over time. At one point we all had next to nothing for experience with fighting; now you never would have guessed we had been raised in a lab. Rose, without taking her eyes off the sparring match, lightly placed her hand over my own, which was resting on the border wall of the arena. I was unsurprised when a thought that was not my own echoed in my mind, as she had lately gotten into the habit of touching my hand when she wished to communicate.

_Look up at the booth, _her eyes flicked to me and then towards the observation booth. She looked back at the match, and I turned towards the booth. With my enhanced vision, I could clearly make out the figure of Nick Fury, the stern (and rather intimidating to anyone who is not experienced with such people) director of SHIELD. Next to him I could see the not as familiar form of Iron Man, or as Gadget and Gizmo discovered, Tony Stark. According to the Tiny Twins, he is going to be our new 'guardian.' (This basically means that he is going to keep an eye on us just enough to avoid questions from social services.) As I studied our new guardian, Fury moved closer to the window and hit the intercom button.

"Wrap it up you four, all of you are to report to the observation room immediately." His voice, as usual, had an emotionless quality that seemed to radiate authority, which is the only reason the sparring match was quickly brought to a halt and the participants ran through a shortened cool down while the others made sure everything was in its proper place.

A few minutes after Fury called us in we walked out of the training room and made our way down the hall to the observation room. I slipped my hand into Rosie's as we walked, and I saw her smile slightly out of the corner of my eye. I could sense that she was wondering how our new 'guardian' would take to our strange little family. We have so rarely come across anyone who looks at us as more than just weapons or tools, Fury being no exception. I sent her reassuring thoughts and squeezed her hand slightly. She glanced at me, her smile having finally reached her eyes, and then walked through the open door of the observation room.

**Okay, I know I said they would meet Iron Man soon, but this chapter kept going and I felt like here was a decent stopping point. I PROMISE that they will meet Iron Man in the next chapter! I'm sorry it took so long guys, I kept finding things I wanted to change or add! And thanks to my reviewers for chapter 2 ****Xylar ****and ****SweetDreamer97, ****I really appreciate it when people take the time to say a few words! Especially when they make me smile! **


	4. Have a Laugh

As the 'children' filed through the door of the observation room, Tony quickly noted that the eldest pair were holding hands, and the others all seemed to be paired off in some way as well. The girl, (was her name Rose or something?), smiled slightly at Tony as she noticed his curious gaze on the strange group. Fury cleared his throat to speak, but before he could say a word one of the younger twins skipped up to Tony and said with a huge smile, "Hi! My name is Lily, and you're Tony Stark! We are going to have so much fun together! What with you being our new 'guardian' and all," At this point her twin skipped up to Lily's side and continued her sister's overenthusiastic greeting in the same energetic manner.

"Not that we really need a guardian, seeing as how Rosie and Eagle are MORE than old enough to take care of us legally, but at least this way we get to meet the Avengers! We can't wait to meet everybody, especially Captain America! No offense Iron Man."

Tony had a rather confused and overwhelmed look on his face, and muttered, "None taken," as the two little girls continued on their shared rant. Rose noticed his expression and seemed to take pity on him,

"Lily, Lila?" She said to the two girls, who were just about to continue speaking. The girls closed their mouths and turned to look at Rose in unison (_Now that, _Tony thought, _was kind of creepy_).

"Maybe you two should let Director Fury speak, I'm sure you will have plenty of time to talk to Mr. Stark and the rest of the Avengers later." The girls looked guiltily at their feet for a moment before flashing Tony a quick smile and skipping back to their previous place near Eagle, who smiled at the pair and turned back to Fury with laughter in his eyes,

"You were about to say something, Director?"

Fury cleared his throat once more and glared at the group before starting again. "As I was trying to say," (insert additional glare from Fury to the group), "This is Iron Man, or as you obviously already know, Tony Stark. You will be staying with him in the Avenger's mansion until further notice."

Lily and Lila giggled, then once of them (Lily? Lila? Tony wasn't really sure) said "We already knew that."

Fury scowled at them, "Finish packing and report to the flight deck in an hour." The group filed out of the room, Eagle giving Fury a nod in affirmative before following.

Fury seemingly repressed a sigh of annoyance and turned to walk out a different door, "Good luck with them Tony, you're going to need it."

Tony watched Fury walk out of the room, a shell shocked look plastered on his face, what exactly had Fury thrown him into?

_Forty minutes later, on the flight deck of SHIELD headquarters…._

"Sir? You know that your design could infinitely be improved if you permitted one of us to examine those blueprints more closely."

A flustered engineer, not long a member of SHIELD's weapons and technology department, looked down in astonishment at the two little kids standing in front of him. He fumbled for words as his face scrunched up in confusion. "Look, kids, I don't know how you got here, but I'm pretty sure that I know a lot more than you about designing undercover weapons. I graduated among the top of my class at MIT and you two probably aren't even in middle school yet, not to mention…" he paused, noting that the kids were just looking up at him, smiling like they had heard all this before and didn't care in the least. "Uh, what are you two smiling for?"

The girl laughed, "You are new here, yes?"

The engineer raised his eyebrows, both at her question and the way she phrased it, "Yeah, how can you tell?"

The girl looked to her brother, still smiling. Her brother smiled in return, then turned back to the engineer, "Well, long story short, Sir, we cannot really tell you anything since you have obviously yet to be briefed on the matter. However, I can assure that we both have more than enough experience with technology to see that your design can vastly be improved with only a few minor modifications."

At this point, a side door to the flight deck opened and six other children of various ages entered, each wearing a backpack. The group instantly found an open space to set down their bags, and the eldest walked over to the still flustered engineer. The young man couldn't help but smile slightly as he took in the expression of the engineer, "So, you've met Gadget and Gizmo I see."

The engineer blinked, as if just recovering from a trance, "Uh, kind of. They didn't tell me their names; they just said they could improve my designs."

The young man gave the twins a look, "I thought you were told to stop messing with the new guys?"

The twins laughed, "We were," said the girl, "but we just could not resist."

The young man rolled his eyes, "Alright you two, get back to the others and let this guy do his job." The pair started to walk away, and the engineer heard the boy mumble,

"His design WAS flawed, or at least it could have been better…"

"Don't mind those two," The young man said, snapping the engineer back into reality once again. "They do that to almost all of the new people. I go by Eagle, the girl was Gadget, and her brother is Gizmo."

"So um, what did they mean, when they said they could improve my design?" The engineer asked uncertainly.

Eagle laughed, "Honestly, you would have to ask them if you want specifics, my specialty has nothing to do with technology. But if you are asking if they were serious, then yes, they could improve your design; actually they could improve almost any design. They are really good with technology, it is what they do." He looked over his shoulder as a door opened in Director Fury and Iron Man entered, "I have to get going, nice talking with you though!" He turned and jogged back to the group he entered with, accepting his backpack from the girl he had entered with earlier. The group walked over to the Director and Iron Man, apparently discussing something, then Iron Man lead them to the Avenger's Jet that had arrived less than an hour earlier and the group (minus Director Fury) climbed on. Moments later the jet launched itself out into the open sky, leaving a very bewildered engineer in its wake.

**Sorry I didn't update for forever! I just didn't really know where to go and my inspiration had deserted me. I'm not really sure where this chapter came from either to be honest, the bit about the engineer just made me smile. I wanted to paint a better picture about the characters of my OCs, and how they do have a sense of humor.**

**Just so you know, Iron Man/Tony was wearing the suit the entire time, although if you want to imagine he took off his helmet after he knew the 'kids' knew, be my guest (it's what I do ). Also, the engineer will not be an important part of this story, he was just something that flew out of my mind onto the screen and decided to stay! **

**Thanks so much to my reviewers for chapter 3, ****Legion 22 ****and ****LetThereBePeace97.**** Also thanks to "your new cool fan," who left a review a couple of months after I originally posted the first three chapters. I really appreciate all three of you! **


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